Beyond the 20FM: the Revitalization of the New Moroccan Left Following the 2011 Protests Daniele Paolini Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Italia
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e-ISSN 2385-3042 Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie orientale Vol. 57 – Giugno 2021 Beyond the 20FM: The Revitalization of the New Moroccan Left Following the 2011 Protests Daniele Paolini Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Italia Abstract Since the late eighties, the Moroccan Left has been experiencing a profound ideological and political crisis exacerbated by the co-optation of the traditional socialist parties of the country. Starting from the nineties, numerous new forces tried to emerge as the new leading leftist front, although with little success. However, the events of 2011 in the Arab region played a crucial role in the revitalisation of the new Moroccan Left, to- day mostly represented by the Fédération de la Gauche Démocratique (FGD) and Annahj Addimocrati. The article investigates the interplay between the 20 February Movement (20FM) and these new socialist forces and it strengthens the idea that behind the 20FM and the establishment of a new non-governmental left lie the very same political and socio-economic reasons. Indeed, in 2011 the leftists attempted to emerge as leading forces side by side the 20FM, but due to their balkanization and internal divisions they were not able to form a united front and seize the opportunity to carry out their fight against the regime. Nevertheless, the political engagement of the 20FM stressed the importance of a new strong leftist-opposition front in the country and the 2011 protests eventually prompted the socialists to start a process of rapprochement aimed at over- coming the divisions of the past years. Keywords Morocco. 2011 protests. 20FM. Leftist parties. Socialism. Summary 1 Introduction. – 2 Political Developments and the Rising of a New Leftist Front. – 3 The 2011 Protests and the Revitalization of the New Moroccan Left. – 4 Conclusions. Peer review Submitted 2021-02-05 Edizioni Accepted 2021-05-06 Ca’Foscari Published 2021-06-30 Open access © 2021 | cb Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License Citation Paolini, D. (2021). “Beyond the 20FM: The Revitalization of the New Moroccan Left Following the 2011 Protests”. Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie orien- tale, 57, 119-140. DOI 10.30687/AnnOr/2385-3042/2021/01/006 119 Daniele Paolini Beyond the 20FM: The Revitalization of the New Moroccan Left Following the 2011 Protests 1 Introduction In 2011, the Arab region witnessed a unique wave of protests that spoke out against socio-economic disparities and corruption while calling for a political change. The uprisings were initially sparked off by a first wave of protests taking place in Tunisia after Muḥammad al-Būʿazīzī’s self-immolation on December 18, 2010 in sign of pro- tests against police acts of abuse and violence (Aleya-Sghaier 2012). Throughout 2011, major demonstrations arose in the country as well as in Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain, Jordan, Morocco, Algeria, Oman, and Iraq. Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan also witnessed a se- ries of protests but on a smaller scale. However widespread the pro- tests became throughout the Arab region, generalisations might be misleading, as each country effectively shows its own peculiarities as regards the causes, strategies, and the outcomes of the demonstra- tions (Allinson 2014; Barany 2011; Hinnebusch 2014). While politi- cal authoritarianism, rooted in all countries in question, is common- ly regarded as one of the main reasons behind the outbreak of the uprisings1 the economic and social dimension of the protests should not be underestimated either. Demands for greater social and eco- nomic justice alongside the discontent brought on by growing ine- qualities and poor job opportunities seem to suggest that the Arab Spring also mirrored a more structural crisis of the neoliberal system (Bogaert 2013). “Poverty, inequality, and precarity” are indeed the three words chosen by Achcar (2013) to sum up the social situation faced by the majority of Arab countries at the dawn of 2011, empha- sising the severity of high unemployment rates in the region, espe- cially among young graduates and women. Indeed, regardless of their actual outcomes, the 2011 protests brought to the fore a large sec- tion of the civil society whose demands are, at least in part, aligned with the traditional stances of the Left (Resta 2018; Achcar 2013). The history of the leftist parties in the Arab countries dates back to the early 1900s. During the colonial era, the leftist forces in the re- gion were often at the forefront in the fight for independence against the colonial powers (Bustani 2014; Gelvin 2004) while they later set as the main opponents to the authoritarian rules that came to power in the post-colonial era. Often outlawed and persecuted, these par- ties would establish close relations with trade unions, profession- al associations, and human rights associations, often carrying out their activities illegally (Majid 1987; Hendriks 1983). Nevertheless, as Resta (2018) recalls, starting from the eighties up until 2011, the Arab Left went through a period of significant decline, with an in- creasing number of parties being banned, co-opted, or marginalised. 1 Gelvin 2015; Heydemann, Leenders 2011; Teti, Gervasio 2011; Droz-Vincent 2011. 120 Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie orientale e-ISSN 2385-3042 57, 2021, 119-140 Daniele Paolini Beyond the 20FM: The Revitalization of the New Moroccan Left Following the 2011 Protests This was, for instance, the case of leftist-opposition forces in Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, and Morocco.2 While it is true that in the post-2011 elections the leftist forces in the region were largely marginalised to the advantage of the Islamist parties (Al-Anani 2012), it is equally true that the role of the Left during the uprisings, its evolution over the following years, as well as its present role in politics, have been widely understudied in the international literature. Indeed, the pur- pose of this contribution is to provide an overview of the major left- ist parties in Morocco, shedding light on the interplay between the rising of a new Left and the events of 2011. Morocco has always been characterised by an exceedingly varied political plurality. While this outward pluralism has partly reflect- ed a specific strategy of the regime aimed at weakening the com- peting parties (Democracy Reporting International 2007), over the decades several leftist forces emerged as the main opponents to the domineering monarchical power. Specifically, after the post-inde- pendence period, two main parties set apart and stood against the regime and its political allies: the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP) and the Party of Progress and Socialism (PPS) (Willis 2002). The USFP was officially founded in 1975 at the Extraordinary party convention of the National Union of Popular Forces (UNFP), the first Moroccan socialist party founded in 1959 by a splinter group of the Ḥizb al-Istiqlāl (Independence party, IP) headed by the leftist leader al-Mahdī bin Barka (Khatibi 2000; Ben Barka 1999). The PPS was in- stead established in 1974 by former militants of the Moroccan Com- munist Party (PCM), founded by ʿAlī Yaʿtah in 1945 and outlawed by the King several times between the end of the protectorate and the first years of independence (Majid 1987). Nevertheless, throughout the nineties, these forces experienced a long-lasting process of co- optation and ideological metamorphosis and the local political land- scape was emptied of strong leftist-opposition parties. At the same time, between the end of the 1990s and the first decade of the 2000s, new leftist and dissenting voices arose, attempting to carve out an ev- er-wider space of visibility and to pave the way for a genuine democ- ratization of the country. At the time, this new emerging Moroccan Left was mainly represented by the Parti de la Gauche Unifié (PSU), the Parti de l’Avant-Guarde Démocratique et Socialiste (PADS), the Congrès National Ittihadi (CNI), and Annahj Addimocrati.3 Moreo- ver, the establishment of new leftist and opposition parties between the 1900s and the 2000s was not confined to Morocco, as evidenced by the foundation of the Congrès pour la République (CPR) in Tuni- 2 Penner Angrist 1999; Maghraoui 2002; Lust-Okar 2005; Ryan 2011; Albrecht 2012 3 For “Annahj Addimocrati” I decided to use a simplified transliteration, as it is com- monly used in Morocco as well. 121 Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie orientale e-ISSN 2385-3042 57, 2021, 119-140 Daniele Paolini Beyond the 20FM: The Revitalization of the New Moroccan Left Following the 2011 Protests sia, the Ḥizb al-Karāma (Dignity Party) in Egypt, and the Democrat- ic Left Party in Lebanon (Resta 2018). Even if Morocco was not as affected as other countries by the 2011 protests, the political vacuum left by the USFP, now governmental left, and the absence of any strong leftist force capable of catalys- ing the widespread popular discontent played a significant role in the emergence of a new social movement, the 20 February Move- ment (20FM), which dominated the local political scene throughout 2011. On February 20, thousands of demonstrators gathered in the capital and other cities such as Casablanca, Marrakesh, Al Hocei- ma, Fez, and Tétouane, receiving the full support of the PSU, PADS, CNI, and Annahj Addimocrati. The 20FM, in which activists with dif- ferent political backgrounds converged, indeed voiced a number of demands traditionally assumed by the left, such as the restriction of the powers of the King, social and civil rights, the recognition of the Amazigh language and culture, and the fight against censorship. Fur- thermore, the outbreak of the protests, the rising of the 20FM, and, in particular, the disappointing response of the King to the demands of the population played a major role in the revitalisation of the new Moroccan Left, that intensified significantly its political and social action from 2011 onwards.